Poem #2,853 | Were pubs always this loud?

Were pubs always this loud:
that rising of a conversation
over others –
amplification a
common action
[swearing &
a low command of language
too richly shared out aloud –
& shrieks back] –
Now I find
myself in a lunchtime lull as
a barman types his account
of in-outs & my quiet pint of
too-cold stout settles in still
air –
creak of chair is a cry –
no more said in a quarter of
an hour supped –
I agree in
empty pubs –
less is slurred